Citation Nr: 1018905
Decision Date: 05/21/10 Archive Date: 06/04/10
DOCKET NO. 08-13 115 ) DATE
)
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On appeal from the
Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Office in Houston,
Texas
THE ISSUE
Entitlement to an effective date earlier than March 30, 1998
for the assignment of a 100 percent schedular rating for
service-connected cognitive disorder secondary to traumatic
brain injury (TBI).
REPRESENTATION
Appellant represented by: Robert V. Chisholm, Attorney
at Law
ATTORNEY FOR THE BOARD
J. N. Moats, Counsel
INTRODUCTION
The Veteran served on active duty from February 1963 to May
1964.
This matter is before the Board of Veterans' Appeals (Board)
on appeal of a rating decision in February 2006 of a
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Regional Office (RO) that
assigned a 100 percent schedular rating for service-connected
cognitive disorder secondary to traumatic brain injury,
effective March 30, 1998. The Board previously denied this
issue in a June 2009 decision. The Veteran filed a timely
appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for Veterans
Claims (Court). By Order dated in January 2010, the Court
remanded the case to the Board for compliance with the
instructions in a January 2010 Joint Motion for Remand (JMR).
FINDING OF FACT
A search of the Social Security Administration death registry
showed that the Veteran died in March 2010.
CONCLUSION OF LAW
Because of the death of the Veteran, the Board has no
jurisdiction to adjudicate the merits of this claim. 38
U.S.C.A. § 7104(a) (West 2002); 38 C.F.R. § 20.1302 (2009).
REASONS AND BASES FOR FINDING AND CONCLUSION
Unfortunately, the Veteran died during the pendency of the
appeal. As a matter of law, veterans' claims do not survive
their deaths. Zevalkink v. Brown, 102 F.3d 1236, 1243-44
(Fed. Cir. 1996); Smith v. Brown, 10 Vet.App. 330, 333-34
(1997); Landicho v. Brown, 7 Vet.App. 42, 47 (1994). This
appeal on the merits has become moot by virtue of the death
of the Veteran and must be dismissed for lack of
jurisdiction. See 38 U.S.C.A. § 7104(a); 38 C.F.R.
§ 20.1302.
In reaching this determination, the Board intimates no
opinion as to the merits of this appeal or to any derivative
claim brought by a survivor of the Veteran. 38 C.F.R.
§ 20.1106 (2009).
ORDER
The appeal is dismissed.
____________________________________________
APRIL MADDOX
Acting Veterans Law Judge, Board of Veterans' Appeals
Department of Veterans Affairs